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Including seal oil in this food competition is about more than taste

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Behind the scenes: The judges score the seal oil with crackling. (Photo by Elizabeth Jenkins/Alaska’s Energy Desk)

There was something different about the food contest at this year’s biennial event in Juneau, Celebration. Along with the usual samples of seaweed, judges also tasted seal oil, which was rendered in communities throughout Southeast.

But the competition wasn’t just about awarding the traditional food. The event organizer says it’s also about a history of cultural resilience that still resonates today.

The judges call this tasting “the breakfast of champions,” and they aren’t kidding. They’re snacking on nutritious jars of seal oil at 10 in the morning.

Jodi Mitchell dips her spoon into a jar the color of amber.

Floating on top of the oil is crackling or crispy seal fat. She says it melts in her mouth.

“You know, my mom used to love these the best,” Mitchell said. “I remember her picking them out of the jar and eating them. She would put seal oil on everything.”

Mitchell is keeping track of the tastings with points and notes, which she’ll share with the other judges later. Some seal oil is heavy. Others are light.

It’s created by simmering the fat over a low to medium heat, a delicate process that can impact the flavor.

For Mitchell, a winning entry tastes like being transported home.

“Just taking a bite of this reminds me of my grandparents,” Mitchell said. “Sitting around the table and eating Native food with all of them. Foods is always best when you share it.”

Pictured is seal oil without crackling. It’s one of two new categories in the competition. (Photo by Elizabeth Jenkins/Alaska’s Energy Desk)

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) President Rosita Worl says that’s the reason seal oil was added to the competition this year — she’d like to see more people proudly enjoying their traditional foods.

Unfortunately, Worl says it hasn’t always felt welcome, especially at a time when Native people were forced to assimilate.

“I will tell you, when we were growing up, people would make fun of us because of our food,” Worl said.

But Worl says seal oil is something to be celebrated. She likes to eat it with dry fish or potatoes. But as a girl, when she was just six years old, she was taken to a federal boarding school in Haines, where seal oil was nowhere to be found.

Worl says all the kids were homesick for the flavor. So, they gravitated towards something the boarding school had plenty of that tasted similar.

“They would serve cod liver oil. It was like a vitamin, and we would love it,” Worl said. “We would circle back in the line so we could have more of it.”

Although boarding schools are a thing of the past, Worl thinks the policies that discourage Native people from harvesting traditional foods are not.

To hunt seal, a person has to have a certain percent of Native blood, under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and its becoming harder for the younger generations to meet that threshold.

According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in the last decade, nearly 20,000 Alaska Native people had less than the federal requirement.

“I went to a meeting and I heard a grandfather say, ‘I can’t even take my grandson out to go hunting seal for me,’” Worl said.

Worl says that means less seal and seal oil is making it into people’s homes for elders and future generations to enjoy. She’d like to see that change.

In the meantime, Worl says including it in this year’s food contest, serves as a reminder — the taste for seal oil isn’t going away.

Back at the judges’ table, after discussing the nuances of all the different jars, they decide on the winner.

One judge says it’s the seal oil she’d want to crack open and share with family and friends.

Here is a list of all the winners:

  • Racean Fredrickson of Angoon took First Place for Best Seal Oil
  • Don Bolton of Metlakatla took First Place for Best Seal Oil with Crackling and First Place for Best Seaweed.
  • Second and Third Place awards for seal oil went to Roberta Revey of Kake and Bolton
  • Second and Third Place for Seal Oil with Crackling went to Fredrickson and Wanita Bunny James of Kake
  • Second and Third Place place for seaweed went to Linda Rae Shearer of Metlakatla and Johnny Jack, Jr., of Angoon.

Excursion Inlet cannery ramps up frozen fish production

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Ocean Beauty’s fish processing plant at Excursion Inlet. (Henry Leasia /KHNS)

Excursion Inlet’s fish-processing plant is gearing up for another season. Recently, seafood processor and distributor Ocean Beauty has been reducing its canning operations while ramping up frozen fish production. This new direction has brought in more business for the Excursion Inlet plant.

When Ocean Beauty’s Southeast Operations Manager Mike Forbush started coming up to Excursion Inlet about 30 years ago, the cannery mostly employed college students. That is not the case anymore.

“I would be very young on this crew, and I’m almost 50,” Forbush said. “I would say the average age is almost 50, 55.”

The vast majority of the staff are from the lower 48. Employees have been spreading the word about the plant to family and friends from New Mexico, Yakima and Stockton.

Forbush said that there is about a 95 percent return rate for maintenance workers, which has all but eliminated the need for outreach.

“I think the last time we recruited in Juneau, we picked up one person,” Forbush said.

By now, multiple generations have worked at this plant. Some are part of families that have been coming since the 1940s.

There is a lot of work to be done on the canning machines. The plant relies on models from the 1960s, and there are no companies that produce salmon canning machines anymore.

“Because there’s just not enough canneries. You know, there’s a lot of soup canneries and things like that, but not a lot of salmon canneries.” Forbush said.

Maintaining this equipment requires skilled machinists who can make parts on the spot. But for all of the work that goes into this assembly line, a small fraction of the product will end up in a can.

An Excursion Inlet salmon canning machine built in 1969. (Henry Leasia / KHNS)

For the last two years, Ocean Beauty has been placing more emphasis on freezing fish in Southeast Alaska. Forbush estimates that 85 percent of the fish processed by the plant this year will be frozen. There are a few reasons for this.

The majority of Ocean Beauty’s canning in Southeast Alaska revolves around pink salmon. Other species of salmon are not as cost-effective for canning. But the pink run is looking weaker this year, especially for the northern part of the region.

In addition, the market for frozen fish is much more lucrative right now. Forbush said a lot of Excursion Inlet’s frozen fish is being sold to other processors in countries like Germany and France. Some of the fish will be sent to Ocean Beauty’s plants in Washington.

“We have quite a big smoking operation down South. We do all our cold smoke in Monroe and our hot smoke in Renton,” Forbush said.

Ocean Beauty’s Petersberg plant did not operate last year due to a lack of freezer facilities. This resulted in Excursion Inlet processing around 26 million pounds of fish in 2017. That’s three times as much fish as it processed the previous year, which is good news for the Haines Borough. The plant brought in over $300,000 in raw fish tax revenue.

Recently, the Borough helped pay to replace a failing bridge that supports a waterline for the Ocean Beauty Plant. At a recent dedication for the new bridge, Forbush said that the repair ensured that the plant would keep running.

“There would be no way the cannery would operate. We have no source down below with enough gravity feed to get to the cannery. It would have been disastrous for us,” Forbush said.

The Petersberg cannery will remain closed again this year, and the Excursion Inlet plant is preparing for more frozen fish production. In April, they bought a new compressor for the refrigeration system. The last time they had updated the refrigerator was in 1979. Now the plant will be able to freeze fish 24 hours a day over a three week period.

Excursion Inlet’s plant superintendent Tom Marshall says they aim to process around 20 million pounds of fish this season.

Two men deceased after Katlian Bay plane crash

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Two men died in a plane crash this weekend north of Sitka during a sightseeing trip. The National Transportation Safety Board and Alaska State Troopers are now on scene investigating.

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According to the Coast Guard, the Piper float plane with two people aboard departed Sitka on Saturday for a 20-minute flight and never returned.

After an extensive search, an Air Station Sitka helicopter crew found the wrecked plane Sunday night. It was found submerged where the Katlian River meets the Katlian Bay.

The pilot, 45-year-old Stonie Huffman of Sitka, and passenger, 66-year-old James Ronge of California, were both located deceased. Ronge’s body was found after an extensive search on Monday.

In a published statement, Captain Stephen White with Coast Guard Sector Juneau said, “It’s with heavy hearts that we found the men deceased and our thoughts are with the families and friends of these individuals during this difficult time.”

Other agencies involved in the search included Civil Air Patrol, the Alaska Air National Guard, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Air Force, the Sitka Police and Fire Departments and Sitka Mountain Rescue.

With the search over, the Alaska State Troopers and two National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) agents, Noreen Price and Eric Swenson, are now conducting an investigation of the incident.

“The intent for the next 24 hours, or as soon as possible, is to get to the accident site and go ahead and document it to the best of our ability,” Clint Johnson, Alaska Region Chief for NTSB, said. “[The plane] is partially submerged is in some brackish water, or a creek or a stream is our understanding right now. That’s all preliminary information. Then, we’ll go into recovery, as far as recovering the wreckage.”

The plane was a white and red colored PA-18 Super Cub float plane. It departed the Sitka seaplane dock on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. for a tour of Katlian Bay and Olga Strait.

This story has been updated with the names of the two deceased. 

Donlin is confident as it navigates the complicated permitting process

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Donlin says it will get most of its major permits out of the way this year. But it still needs 100 before it can begin mining. (Photo By KYUK)

Residents of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta have heard about the proposed Donlin gold mine, which would be the biggest in the world. They’ve seen the logo on hats and bags, and on flyers throughout Bethel and nearby villages. But it’s not easy to understand the process involved in getting this complex project approved. The Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, in particular, with its thousands of pages, is a difficult read.

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David Cannon has worked for the Kuskokwim River Watershed Council, the Forest Service, and with the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge as a fish biologist. He’s also a local activist who is trying to educate the region on what he sees as the dangers of the gold mine.

“That document is massive,” Cannon told a crowd that assembled in Bethel to air concerns over the final EIS last week. “I have a degree as a biologist and I struggled to sort through that document.”

The EIS is just the first step in the process and is required for projects involving federal agencies, like the Army Corps of Engineers, that will potentially have significant impact on the environment. A broad range of state and federal agencies and villages directly affected by the mine participated in the EIS process. Donlin must receive at least 100 permits from federal and state entities before it can begin mining.

Because the mine would be located in wetlands, the Army Corps has to issue a permit allowing its placement. And states are required by federal law, through the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, to regulate environmental impacts. Kurt Parkan, a spokesman for Donlin, says that while the company anticipates getting most of the major permits this year, the rest will likely be approved within five years.

“Probably within the next two to three years, we’ll probably get the majority of all the permits we need,” Parkan said.

The EIS is probably the most bureaucratic endeavor in the process. It takes years and millions of dollars to complete. It’s been five years since Donlin submitted an application in 2012. But now that the final EIS is out, the company has a much clearer idea of its progress. It already has two permits from the state. The most recent one allows wastewater discharge into Crooked Creek.

During the EIS process, Donlin and the agencies involved calculated the environmental risks from the mine. For instance, as the Army Corps drafted the report, stakeholders gave feedback and studies provided more information on the proposed project. As a result, the company has modified the proposal in response to concerns from the state throughout the process. Donlin’s Parkan says the company is aiming for approval.

“So everything we’ve been doing up to this point is working towards ‘yes,’” Parkan said.

Compared to other proposed mines in Alaska, like the Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Donlin is farthest along in the process, according to Faith Martineau, the executive director for the permitting office at the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. She coordinates with federal and state agencies and industries about the permitting process to make sure information can be found in one place. Donlin is one of her projects.

“Donlin would probably be the largest that’s nearing the end of its permitting process,” Martineau said.

Now that the company is in the permitting process, Martineau says that it’s highly unlikely that the state will prevent the company from building the mine. She says the “back and forth” between stakeholders throughout the process helps industries develop a proposal that is most likely to be permitted.

Donlin is now waiting on the combined record of decision from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Land Management, which would determine how plans for the current mine proceed. But even once the companies have all the permits in hand, they would be years away from starting construction because they would need to re-evaluate whether the mine makes financial sense.

Elders look on with pride as younger generations step up at Celebration 2018

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Owen James poses with his daughter Leah Moss. James and Moss both came to Celebration 2018 from Hoonah. (Photo by Adelyn Baxter/KTOO)

Celebration 2018 came to a close on Saturday.

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What began 36 years ago as an attempt to save Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures has become a vibrant reminder that Alaska Native traditions are alive and thriving.

In many ways, Celebration is a reunion. Indigenous people from all over Alaska, Canada, even Hawaii, come to Juneau every other year for the cultural festival.

Dancing along the parade route in downtown Juneau on Saturday, Owen James of Hoonah paused to hug friends in the crowd.

“Folks I haven’t seen in years. Maybe see them only once every two years,” James said.

This was James’ 17th Celebration. He only missed one.

“It feels great, because seeing all these younger generations pick up where we left off and to see and hear them singing the songs and drumming, and stepping up and taking the lead too, it’s awesome,” James said. “Makes you feel good inside.”

That’s significant, because there was a time when some feared their cultures wouldn’t survive.

Marlene Johnson, who spoke Friday on “A Juneau Afternoon,” said she was reluctant when she first heard the idea to host a cultural gathering for Southeast Alaska Natives. But she knew their cultures needed saving.

“It took a long time to get us to the point where we were able to convince the outside world that our culture is not bad, it was a thing of celebration,” Johnson said.

Johnson is the chair of Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Board of Trustees.

When Celebration first began, decades of cultural oppression and government schools had all but wiped out Native languages in the region.

Johnson said you never saw children wearing regalia or singing traditional songs in public just a few decades ago.

“When I saw those kids yesterday, the little boys from Yakutat, to see them dancing the way they did, I thought to myself, ‘Everything we’ve done the last 30 years has been worth it,’ when I see that,” Johnson said.

Celebration brings thousands of people to Juneau every other year. It’s become one of the largest gatherings in Alaska.

Nearly every community in Southeast is represented on the main stage in Centennial Hall, where about 50 dance groups perform new and traditional songs.

Film screenings, traditional food contests, art shows, workshops and the ever-popular Toddler Regalia Review keep the crowds busy.

As efforts to revitalize Alaska Native languages continue, elders like James and Johnson can take comfort in seeing the younger generations take on a bigger role in Celebration each time.

James’ 11-year-old daughter Leah Moss has never missed one. She can’t wait for Celebration 2020.

“I just wish it would come more soon,” Moss said. “I don’t want to wait two years every time.”

Decrepit, abandoned Polaris Hotel could soon be owned by City of Fairbanks

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Polaris Hotel. (Photo: Dan Bross / KUAC)

The City of Fairbanks could soon take ownership of the abandoned Polaris Hotel. The owner of the derelict downtown high rise, Anchorage developer Marc Marlow, did not pay past due property taxes by a May 25th deadline, and city council member David Pruhs says that opens up a path for the city to acquire the building beginning with consideration of an ordinance at Monday’s council meeting.

”I’m introducing, for a second reading, an ordinance that designates the Polaris building a public interest property for the City of Fairbanks,” Pruhs said. “Once we do that and sign that ordinance, the Fairbanks North Star Borough will deed it over to the City of Fairbanks, when we pay the Fairbanks North Star Borough for the back taxes that are owed.”

Pruhs says the tax bill is $38,000. Pruhs heads a group pursuing city ownership demolition and redevelopment of the Polaris property.

”A performing arts center, convention center, a very nice viable place for downtown Fairbanks,” Pruhs said.

No money has been secured for the estimated $4 million demolition, and the much costlier re-development. Pruhs says the city owning the building is the first step to seeking federal support for the projects, but fellow councilmember Jerry Cleworth has reservations about the plan.

”If we can’t get funds to tear it down, or demolish it, it just becomes a burden to the taxpayers of the area,” Cleworth said.

The 11-story Polaris is Fairbanks tallest building and has been vacant for 18 years. Marc Marlow tried to get federal funding to redevelop the former hotel into apartments.

Bethel family and community gathers to remember Y-K Delta legend John Active

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A vital voice of KYUK’s programming, John Active died on June 4, 2018. (Katie Basile / KYUK)

On Thursday, June 7, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta gathered to honor and lay to rest Alaska’s own beloved legendary broadcaster and storyteller, John Active.

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The funeral services began at 2 p.m. as over 300 friends and family packed the Bethel Moravian Church to say “Tue-i-ngunrituq,” or “this is not the last time,” to John Joseph Aqumgaciq Active.

“A lot of people know John. He has that voice that has knowledge,” Reverend Clifford Jimmie, who opened the service, said. “He will be missed, especially by the co-workers, because everybody used to hear him on KYUK.”

“As Ted Stevens was Alaska, John Active was KYUK,” longtime KYUK employee Chris Ho, a close friend of John’s who recited the eulogy, said.

“We appreciate everyone who shared their life with our brother, uncle, brother in-law, friend, soul mate and uppie, John Joseph Active. With love from the Active family,” Ho said.

Following Clifford Jimmie’s sermon, songs and prayers, a last viewing and the burial, everyone gathered back at the church to eat and reflect.

“So when the feasts like this, when he was able to make it to the feasts, we used to try to sit together.” Anna Kinegak, one of John’s cousins said. “He would eat and then he would go – [makes slurping noise – laughs]. Good memories of him; he was always very kind.”

“Always treated me like family, even though I barely knew him, but he was my mom Eliza Jacobs’ half brother,” Fritz Gunlik, who was named after John’s brother, said.

“Whenever I’d hear his voice, I’d hear him say, ‘if I was rich, I’d have somebody pick berries for me. Yeah, that’s him: always funny, always joking, always smiling, always teasing,” Gunlik said.

Some shared memories, but wished to remain anonymous.

“Dan Rather was 60 Minutes, but we have our own 60 Minutes, and he knows it. John Rather, KYUK, 60 Minutes. He always used to get a crack outta that. He was such a good character,” the man said.

“Even if I’m having a gloomy day, listening to him, he’d make me laugh and I’d feel so much better, so he makes my day,” Teresa Slats said, adding, “I’m gonna miss him.”

Joli Morgan worked on “Tundra Terror Theater” with John, coming up with creative ways to introduce the movies.

“And John came up with the idea of a man-eating tree in Bethel. So we really sort of hyped that, and then we took the cameras out and we found a tree and John began to eat it,” Morgan said. “He was a very creative person.”

“I’m glad he started ‘Ketvarrluku,’ the talk shows,” Ruth Evon said. “That was really good. You know, a lot of wisdom came out of that and from the elders. It’s good to have known him and he won’t be forgotten.”

In memory of our colleague, elder, and friend, John Active.

In partnership with Bethel Community Services Foundation, KYUK has put together a Memorial Scholarship in honor of John Active’s legacy, which will be awarded to a college student with “social ties to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta” who is working toward a degree in journalism, indigenous language, multimedia, or communications.

Iditarod board approves rule changes for dog deaths in race

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The board for Alaska’s most famous sled dog race has approved a rule change that will kick mushers out of the race if their dogs die while on the trail.

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The Iditarod Trail Committee board debated and eventually approved the change at its meeting in Anchorage on Friday.

Officials added the caveat that if a dog’s death “was caused solely by unforeseeable forces,” then a musher may be allowed to stay in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

The rules previously allowed the decision of withdrawing a musher to be left up to the race marshal and the marshal’s judges.

The board also approved a change that caps teams at 14 dogs at the starting line. Each team was previously allowed up to 16 dogs.


Bill would shift 3% of state’s ANWR revenue to Native corporations

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Photo: Carrie Braes

At the request of Alaska Congressman Don Young, a bill pending in the U.S. House would reduce Alaska’s share of revenues from oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and give that money to Alaska Native corporations.

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Congress decided last year, when it opened the refuge to oil development, to split the revenues 50-50 between the federal and state governments. But last week Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., proposed to reduce the state’s share to 47 percent and direct 3 percent to Alaska Native corporations.

“It’s fitting that I should offer the amendment under the larger than life picture of Don Young that’s staring down on us,” Cole told the House Appropriations Committee last week. “Because to be fair to everybody, this is an amendment that Don Young asked me to offer.”

Young isn’t on the Appropriations Committee but his portrait hangs in the room were the committee met.

Cole’s amendment, first reported by Indianz.com, specifies the 3 percent share would be distributed according to 7(i) revenue sharing. That’s the section of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act that says the regional Native corporations must share 70 percent of the revenue from certain resource development on their lands with each other. The idea was to offset wealth disparities among the corporations.

But, to the frustration of several of them, Arctic Slope Regional Corp. got subsurface ownership to a small portion of ANWR in a 1983 land exchange known as the Chandler Lake agreement, and that land is not subject to the revenue sharing requirement.

Cole said his amendment fulfills the mission of 7(1).

“It is in keeping with the spirit of that legislation that there’s to be resource sharing amongst the Alaska Natives from ANWR,” Cole said.

Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., spoke against the amendment, saying the refuge is too valuable in its natural state to allow development. But Cole’s amendment passed the committee on a voice vote.

Young, in a written statement, said the 3-percent allocation will support the health and well-being of Alaska Natives. He said he and Alaska’s U.S. senators intended to get the allocation included in the bill last year, but were blocked by a Senate rule.

Young also said the state still stands to gain billions of dollars in revenues from developing ANWR. (Environmental groups opposed to drilling in the refuge dispute that it will raise large amounts of money.)

A spokeswoman for Lisa Murkowski said the senator supports the 3 percent allocation in the House bill to “resolve historical inequities.”

Gov. Walker spokesman Austin Baird said Walker backs the congressional delegation’s efforts.

“The governor is trusting the leadership of Sen. Murkowski, Sen. Sullivan and Congressman Young to look out for the best interest of Alaskans, since they are the closest to this,” Baird said.

The amendment is in the House Appropriations bill for the Interior Department, which still needs a vote by the full House.

Murkowski chairs a Senate subcommittee that is due to take up the Senate version of the bill Tuesday. A spokeswoman says a Senate agreement not to attach riders to the spending bills probably prevents Murkowski from including a similar provision in that bill. The amendment could still appear in the final version.

Alaska News Nightly: Monday, June 11, 2018

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Stories are posted on the APRN news page. You can subscribe to APRN’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @aprn

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Bill would shift 3% of state’s ANWR revenue to Native corporations

Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media – Washington D.C.

A bill pending in the U.S. House would reduce Alaska’s share of revenues from oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and give that money to Alaska Native corporations.

Two men deceased after Katlian Bay plane crash

Emily Kwong, KCAW – Sitka

One person is dead and another missing after a small plane crashed during a weekend sightseeing trip north of Sitka.

Report highlights long-standing issue of VPSOs with criminal convictions

Lori Townsend, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

Recent reporting in the Anchorage Daily News has exposed a long-standing problem in Alaska of rural communities hiring village police officers with past criminal convictions. That includes some who later committed crimes while they were officers — as the ADN headline puts it — going from “criminal to cop and back again.”

Iditarod board approves rule changes for dog deaths in race

Associated Press

The board for Alaska’s most famous sled dog race has approved a rule change that will kick mushers out of the race if their dogs die while on the trail.

Supreme Court denies Schaeffer Cox request for appeal of conviction

Tim Ellis, KUAC – Fairbanks

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Fairbanks militia leader Schaeffer Cox’s appeal of his conviction in 2012 on a charge of conspiracy to murder federal officials.

Elders look on with pride as younger generations step up at Celebration 2018

Adelyn Baxter, KTOO – Juneau

What began 36 years ago as an attempt to save Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures from extinction has become a vibrant reminder that Alaska Native traditions are alive and thriving.

Ironworkers help men prep for life outside of Goose Creek Correctional Center

Anne Hillman, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

At Goose Creek Correctional Center near Wasilla, inmates can learn the basic concepts of welding using simulators, but until recently they haven’t been allowed access to real welding machines.

Bethel family and community gathers to remember Y-K Delta legend John Active

Christine Trudeau, KYUK – Bethel

On Thursday, June 7, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta gathered to honor and lay to rest Alaska’s own beloved legendary broadcaster and storyteller, John Active.

Ironworkers help men prep for life outside of Goose Creek Correctional Center

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A group of men at Goose Creek Correctional Center graduate from a welding training class. (Hillman/Alaska Public)

When you’re incarcerated, it can be hard to get real-world work experience and training. At Goose Creek Correctional Center near Wasilla, inmates can learn the basic concepts of welding using simulators, but until recently they haven’t been allowed access to real welding machines.

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The Ironworkers Union is trying to solve that problem — and prepare people for release — by bringing the real world experience inside the prison. For two weeks trainers from the union parked a mobile welding trailer at Goose Creek and taught inmates some basic skills.

Mike Phillips set up a test plate, secured it above his head, and ran some beads of metal along a joint.

“Basically, I was doing a weave – an up-down side-to-side motion as I’m going forward,” Phillips explained, showing off a piece of metal. “And it’s basically to connect two different pieces of metal in a90-degree angle.”

Phillips did a little bit of welding when he was young, but recently his only experience was on a virtual welder inside the prison. With the simulator, people hold models of the tools and watch a screen but don’t get the full experience.

“It’s different,” Phillips said. “It’s cleaner on the virtual welder compared to the actual thing. You don’t get the heat. You don’t get the slag. And you don’t get the stick sticking. You don’t get the headache.”

Now that he has more real-life, hands-on skills, Phillips said he’s more prepared for release in about two years.

“When I go back out on the street – my field is hydraulics and pneumatics, so I do a lot of machine work in the shop. So not only will I be able to do the work itself, welding, but I’ll be able to identify a positive weld or a negative weld, where there’s cracks, defects, that kind of thing,” Phillips said.

Phillips said earning a trade like welding is important for the inmates because it will help him get a job.

“It’s one of the fields where having a criminal record isn’t a negative,” Philips said. “They don’t really care as long as you get the work done.”

Phillip Burnell poses with his certificate after completing a welding class at Goose Creek. (Photo courtesy of Dept. of Corrections)

Phillip Burnell had never tried welding before learning basic skills on the simulator. The two-week class in the mobile training unit was his first time experiencing the heat and working with real materials.

“I was excited when I heard I was going to be doing the welding for the first time,” Burnell said. “I’m glad I had the opportunity to come here and try this before I get out.”

Burnell is already planning on using the skills to find a job when he returns to Utqiaġvik.

“Now I can actually go there and say I had some experience,” Burnell said.

The trainers were pleased with the outcome of the class. “Really good group of guys,” trainer Colleene LaRue said. “They were really eager to learn. Definitely one of the better classes I’ve taught.”

Report highlights long-standing issue of VPSOs with criminal convictions

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Flying into Selawik. Photo by Michael Brubaker, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

Recent reporting in the Anchorage Daily News has exposed a long-standing problem in Alaska of rural communities hiring village police officers with past criminal convictions. That includes some who later committed crimes while they were officers — as the ADN headline puts it — going from “criminal to cop and back again.”

ADN reporter Kyle Hopkins wrote about this and joined Alaska Public Media’s Lori Townsend.

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TOWNSEND: Your story on this issue centers on a 2015 death in Selawik. Tell me about that case.

HOPKINS: It got my attention in part because I had been to Selawik years earlier as an Anchorage Daily News reporter and had done a story called, “No Law In Sight”. It was about how Selawik often would have no police officers, and about how that village was indicative of something that happens in dozens of villages around the state, where there’s, at times, no Village Police Officer, there’s no Tribal Police Officer, certainly no VPSO or Trooper. So when I saw that there had been a death in the village, and that the person who was arrested for causing the death, not actually charged with manslaughter or murder, but charged with giving alcohol to and raping this 16-year-old girl was a Village Police Officer, I was interested in how he had been hired because one of the first things, of course, that we do when we report on a serious case like that, is we look at the person who’s been charged, and we look to see what their criminal record is. And in that case, it was clear this was someone who’d been convicted previously as a bootlegger. And it just raised questions about how he had been hired as a Village Police Officer, or to be specific, he was called what that local government called a city patrolman., but the duties are overlapping.

TOWNSEND: You found other Village Police Officers with criminal records that had gone on to commit crimes while they were VPOs. Is there something systemic going on here?

HOPKINS: What this story looks at is the idea that no one really knows who the Village Police Officers are in Alaska. There’s a framework that was created decades ago that acknowledges the idea that, in a small community that needs policing, there might not be a large field of applicants, that maybe you don’t have the same requirements that you have for a State Trooper, but that there’s some vetting, that there’s some effort to make sure that the person being hired to protect his or her neighbors is not a criminal themselves. And that’s where the state and arguably local governments are kinda falling down. No one is really vetting these officers, despite the fact that they do what a police officer does in any city. Sometimes they carry guns, not often, but they have access to the jails. They arrest people. Theoretically, someone should be looking to make sure they’re not themselves criminals. What we found is that, generally, that’s often not happening. It’s part of a long-standing problem, and one that was really well-described in a lawsuit by the Native American Rights fund back in 1999-2001. They fought to try and solve this issue; they lost in court. And here we are almost 20 years later, and the issue is as bad as ever.

TOWNSEND: During your reporting on the death of Lois Cleveland, the young girl in Selawik who died, you came across a recording of an Alaska State Trooper’s interview with her mother. Her mother’s name is Minnie. It’s a hard bit of audio to listen to, but here’s a short clip of it.

MINNIE: They’re supposed to be helping, not hurting and taking her life…

OFFICERS: You’re right.

MINNIE: Who’s his boss? Who hired him?

TOWNSEND: What’s the answer to that question? And how did he get hired as a convicted bootlegger?

HOPKINS: When Minnie Cleveland, the mother of the girl, who you just heard… when her mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, it was initially filed against the city and John Doe. And John Doe was the city administrator because they didn’t know who the person was who had hired Norton. And when I tried to learn a little bit more about that process and talk to the current city administrator, I got a “no comment,” no one was willing to talk to me about that. The city of Selavik also refused to name their current VPOs. In terms of how was he hired, why was he hired, this incident that happened in Selawik… it’s hard to point a finger at any one community because you have local government officials who are asked to wear many, many hats. Sometimes they come in and it’s unclear what some of the requirements are, so you’re hiring multiple people, you might not even know that there’s this requirement that you have to vet your VPO, or send the name off to the state for certification and stuff. So, how that happened remains a little unclear, but the main takeaway for me was that it wasn’t unusual. It’s not surprising that that would happen. In fact, it happens a lot.

TOWNSEND: Kyle, what was the state’s response as you were reporting this? Who did you talk to and did they offer solutions for fixing this problem that’s been going on for a very long time, as you noted?

HOPKINS: The reason I’m doing this story now, beyond the fact that there’s this wrongful death suit that just really shines a light on a specific case, is that when I spoke to the Alaska Police Standards Council and I said, “So, how many VPOs are there, and where are they?” the answer was, “Oh. We have no idea.” And that’s despite a framework within state regulations that necessitates that they do know, and that they certify, and that these officers be certified. So that was the point at which it felt like, the system seems broken for whatever reason. So the response from the state was they would definitely like to know more about who the officers are, they would like to make sure that regulations are being followed. The director of the Police Standards Council said that one problem is there’s kind-of widespread non-compliance with those requirements, that is that an unfunded mandate, is that asking something of city governments that they’re not prepared to do, or don’t have bandwidth to do because they’re asked to do many other things? And that’s where you quickly come back to the lawsuit from 10-20 years ago that said there is this two-tiered system of justice in rural Alaska, where if you’re born in rural Alaska, you’re not afforded the same protections as you are in the city. And why is that? And whose responsibility is that? Is that the state or the feds? And that issue was never resolved, and I think you kind of quickly come back to that larger question of who should be doing more. And it certainly doesn’t seem fair to put it all on the shoulders of local governments.

Supreme Court denies Schaeffer Cox’s request for appeal of conviction

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The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Fairbanks militia leader Schaeffer Cox’s appeal of his conviction in 2012 on a charge of conspiracy to murder federal officials.

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The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the high court didn’t include any comment in its rejection of the appeal.

Cox is serving a 26-year sentence for conspiring with a group of his supporters to kill officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and others. An Anchorage jury convicted Cox of crimes that include soliciting and conspiring to commit murder and owning illegal weapons. But the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals later overturned Cox’s conviction for soliciting murder. Monday’s Supreme Court ruling leaves that ruling intact.

Cox drew the attention of law-enforcement agencies after he organized groups that include the Alaska Peacemakers Militia and the 2nd Amendment Task Force. He helped both groups stage large rallies, where among other things speakers threatened violence against law-enforcement officers, judges and federal officials.

LGBTQ mayoral proclamation causes controversy in Homer

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Homer City Hall (Photo courtesy of City of Homer)

The Homer City Council’s meeting was canceled Monday after a mayoral proclamation caused some controversy.

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The proclamation celebrated the LGBTQ community in Homer, and declared June as “Homer Pride Month.”

More than 70 emails both for and against the proclamation poured in throughout the day, City Clerk Melissa Jacobsen said.

Council members Tom Stroozas, Shelly Erickson and Heath Smith alerted the city that they could not attend, which forced the cancellation of the meeting.

Council member Tom Stroozas pulled out of the meeting because of the proclamation, he said, and said that it had remnants of a resolution from 2017 regarding inclusivity.

The “inclusivity resolution” as it’s known was the basis for a divisive recall attempt against three council members last summer, Stroozas said

Mayor Bryan Zak’s proclamation is similarly divisive.

“We’re trying to prevent that from happening again and creating a brouhaha in the council chambers tonight,” Stroozas said.

Council members Donna Aderhold and Caroline Venuti said they were both surprised by their peers’ actions.

“I think it’s kind of a slap in the face to the voters particularly and the people of our area that wanted Homer to accept the diversity that we have,” Venuti said. “When they just don’t show up and you cancel an entire meeting, it really is too bad for our city that this can happen.”

Local political group Citizens AKtion Network, known as CAN, also condemned the council members.

“This actually is dereliction of duty, and it certainly seems to be an offense that is worthy of recall,” CAN said in a press release. “I’m not in favor of recalling these three for a number of reasons, but we need to beat them soundly at the ballot box,”

Smith and Erikson could not be reached in time for this story.

This story contained contributions from Aaron Bolton with KBBI.

NOAA law enforcement researches sexual harassment, assault among fisheries observers

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(Photo courtesy NOAA)

Women are harassed and fear for their safety much more than men when they work as fishery observers.

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National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s office of law enforcement officials presented a report about sexual harassment of observers to a meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council in Kodiak.

The report shared preliminary data from an ongoing survey and although the sample size is small, just 21 women and 31 men responded from the 2016 cohort and 21 females and 26 males from the 2017 cohort, the survey reveals stark differences between the experiences of female and male observers.

Jaclyn Smith, a special agent for the NOAA office of law enforcement in Anchorage, presented some of the data compiled through an anonymous survey sent out to observers deployed in Alaska in 2016 and 2017.

About 400 observers are employed in Alaska in any given year.

“There were 20 questions that were asked about either safety or harassment. I phrased it in ways that didn’t come up with conclusions,” Smith said. “I didn’t ask them if they were sexually harassed rather I asked them  if they ever received unwanted, unwelcome comments of a sexual nature or I asked them if they ever feared for their physical safety.”

North Pacific Groundfish and Halibut Fisheries observers are expected to accurately record sampling data, write reports, make observations of violations and report suspected violations.

Observers make sure boats are following required regulations while at sea. They live aboard fishing boats with their crews, and a strong rapport with the fishermen they work alongside can really help observers do their job.

But, for women working as observers, the isolated environment can lead to uncomfortable or dangerous situations, according to the Observer program’s annual report.

Almost half of all observers in Alaska are women.

The survey’s goal was to narrow down what observers were experiencing while working said Smith.

“(In) 2016, and these are all the positive responses that we got. Nineteen percent of the females who responded were made to fear for their physical safety in 2016 and 14 (percent) in 2017,” Smith said. “Offensive comments made regarding age, sex, sexual orientation, religion or race/ethnicity: 43 percent and 10 percent in 2016 as opposed to 38 (percent) and four percent in 2017.”

The fact that some observers feared for their safety is distressing, but Smith also pointed out that this kind of work environment doesn’t allow women to do their jobs well.

“There have been times where the observer is trying to do their sampling and a crew member might stand directly in front of them. Or there might be a bunch of things that are put onto the observer sampling station when the crew knows that the observer is about to conduct their sample that prevents them from accessing it,” Smith said. “A lot of times it is a person actually standing in front of the observer preventing them from going where they need to go.”

The body acknowledged that male and female observers have very different experiences when out with crews and expressed support for more research into sexual harassment among observers.

NOAA has seen a significant drop in reports of sexual harassment in 2017.

There were 14 reports in 2016 and just seven in 2017, which could indicate law enforcement and industry efforts to educate and prevent sexual harassment could be working.

Smith acknowledged that because victims can lose trust in the government, their employers and law enforcement, they may not report experiences such as sexual harassment to authorities.

One of the goals of the survey is to find out what the barriers are to reporting such incidents.

The results of the survey are preliminary and NOAA law enforcement plans to continue conducting it for several more months.

The final report is scheduled to be released during the December meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council.


Retired Ketchikan teacher, pastor charged with sexual abuse of a minor

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Recently retired Ketchikan High School teacher and local pastor Doug Edwards has been arrested and charged with three counts of sexual abuse of a minor.

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According to the complaint filed in court by police Detective Devin Miller, the charges stem from incidents last fall with a 14-year-old girl. She knew Edwards through his roles as a pastor with First Baptist Church and as a culinary arts teacher at Ketchikan High School.

Police say Edwards has admitted to the crimes.

Ketchikan Police Sgt. Andy Berntson says the investigation started in mid-April, when the girl’s father approached police to report that his daughter told him and her mother about the incidents.

“These things do sometimes take some time,” Berntson said. “There are a lot of different investigative techniques you can use. You certainly want as much information available before you present it for prosecution and look at charges.”

The girl also spoke to police, according to the complaint. In her statement, she provided details of multiple encounters. In each, Edwards allegedly reached into the girl’s shirt, under her bra and groped the girl’s bare chest.

One encounter allegedly happened in the basement of the church when she was alone, playing the piano. Another allegedly happened at Edwards’ home, where she had gone to watch a movie with another girl. A third encounter allegedly took place in the storage area of the high school’s culinary arts room.

According to the complaint, Edwards admitted to police that the encounters took place, and that he had groped the girl’s breast. Police say that Edwards also admitted doing the same thing to another young girl.

Berntson says police are aware of the impact of these kinds of charges to everyone involved, and are careful to make sure they are confident about the allegations.

“In all cases you want to be sure, but certainly there’s a higher level of scrutiny on higher-profile cases and a higher level of crimes, which this is both,” Berntson said. “It’s certainly going to have a big impact on the community as well as the suspect and victim.”

In a news release late Monday, police say the investigation is continuing. Berntson says that’s partly because of the other girl Edwards identified, along with any other information that might come forward as a result of the charges.

Berntson says he can’t say whether the school district was aware of the investigation before this week, but it isn’t common for police to involve anyone else in an investigation like this one.

Edwards had his first court hearing Tuesday morning in Ketchikan Superior Court. He was released on $10,000 bail, with conditions that he surrender his passport and remain in his home except for court hearings and to meet with an attorney. Edwards also is not to have contact with girls under 16.

Edwards’ next hearing is scheduled for June 22nd.

Fairbanks City Council OKs ordinance advancing bid to secure Polaris

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Polaris Hotel. (Photo: Dan Bross / KUAC)

The Fairbanks City Council took a big step Monday toward taking over ownership of the old Polaris Building – a step that Mayor Jim Matherly hopes will lead to demolition of the contaminated and condemned downtown structure.

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“We have to legally own the property to do much with it,” Matherly said in an interview before the council meeting.

Monday’s 5-0 vote on an ordinance sponsored by Matherly and Councilman David Pruhs enables the city to begin a process of acquiring ownership of the Polaris through foreclosure. Joy Huntington was absent. The measure authorizes the city to pay $49,000 to the borough to cover property taxes that Anchorage developer Marc Marlow, who owns the structure, has failed to pay since 2015.

Matherly says passage of the ordinance enables the city to seek funding to help pay the $4 million demolition cost.

“By putting it into our hands, it gives us a lot more power to obtain federal funds, to obtain state funds – any kind of help that we can get to tear it down,” Matherly said.

City officials say Marlow hasn’t responded to their concerns. He also didn’t return phone calls for this story. The mayor says it’ll take a while for the city to finally arrange a date with the wrecking ball for the Polaris. He says it’ll most likely take a while for the legal process to get to that point – sort of like the slow pace at which the city has had to proceed since it and the Downtown Association of Fairbanks began working in earnest on the project in 2015.

“We don’t have a wrecking-ball date on the Polaris Building,” Matherly said. “It is actually been baby steps, no doubt about it.”

Matherly said during Monday’s meeting it’s still possible Marlow will pay the more than $54,000 he owes the borough for 2015’s back taxes, and retain ownership of the Polaris.

Regardless, the mayor says the city will move quickly to secure the building to keep vandals and thrill-seekers from breaking-in to it. Fairbanks police have responded to nearly 100 complaints for break-ins and other such activity since 2009. Besides the nuisance, the vandals also risk exposure to such contaminants as asbestos and black mold that’s spread throughout the building after years of neglect.

“We’re going to secure that building in the next 30 to 60 days. People won’t be breaking in all the time,” Matherly said. “We’re going to secure it really well, because that’s just not just your average empty building. It is beyond dilapidated inside, with a whole lot of dangerous things inside, with a whole lot of dangerous things in there.”

Meanwhile, the Downtown Association will continue raising the rest of the $135,000 the city needs to gain ownership of the building. The money will be used to buy the note from a lender who loaned Marlow $130,000. Matherly says the organization already has raised about half that amount.

Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, June 12, 2018

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Stories are posted on the APRN news page. You can subscribe to APRN’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @aprn

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Retired Ketchikan teacher, pastor charged with sexual abuse of a minor

Leila Kheiry, KRBD – Ketchikan

Recently retired Ketchikan High School teacher and local pastor Doug Edwards has been arrested and charged with three counts of sexual abuse of a minor.

NOAA law enforcement researches sexual harassment, assault among fisheries observers

Daysha Eaton, KMXT – Kodiak

NOAA’s office of law enforcement officials presented a report about sexual harassment of observers to a meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council in Kodiak.

Alaska’s legal pot industry decries taxes, seeks changes

Associated Press

Alaska’s legal marijuana industry wants the state to change the way it taxes pot.

Fairbanks City Council OKs ordinance advancing bid to secure Polaris

Tim Ellis, KUAC – Fairbanks

The Fairbanks City Council took a big step Monday toward taking over ownership of the old Polaris Building – a step that Mayor Jim Matherly hopes will lead to demolition of the contaminated and condemned downtown structure.

LGBTQ mayoral proclamation causes controversy in Homer

Renee Gross, KBBI – Homer

The Homer City Council’s meeting was canceled Monday after a mayoral proclamation celebrating the LGBTQ community in Homer caused some controversy.

Including seal oil in this food competition is about more than taste

Elizabeth Jenkins, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Juneau

The competition wasn’t just about awarding the traditional food. The event organizer says it’s also about a history of cultural resilience that still resonates today.

Avrum Gross: Gov. Hammond’s ‘long-haired hippie’ ally, attorney general and in-house antagonist

Jeremy Hsieh, KTOO – Juneau

Avrum Gross died in May 2018. The East Coast Democrat and lawyer was an unlikely ally of Republican Gov. Jay Hammond. He served as Alaska’s attorney general during the permanent fund’s seminal years.

Avrum Gross: Gov. Hammond’s ‘long-haired hippie’ ally, attorney general and in-house antagonist

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After retiring, Avrum Gross split his time between Hawaii, Italy and a historic cannery near Angoon that he used as a summer home, family retreat and fishing hole. (Photo courtesy Jody Gross)

Former Alaska Attorney General Avrum Gross died May 8, 2018, at the age of 82. He had pancreatic cancer.

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Republican Gov. Jay Hammond appointed the East Coast Democrat in 1974 to be the state’s top attorney. It was a seminal time for the Alaska Permanent Fund and Gross played a key role.

Avrum Gross was born Feb. 25, 1936, in New York City and grew up in New Jersey. As a child, Gross went to the Juilliard School to study violin. He talked about the experience in a 1986 KTOO television interview.

“I was quite good, as a matter of fact,” Gross said. “I was driven so hard at it, that when I finally left high school and went to college, I stopped playing the violin for 15 years. I just stopped. I never picked it up again. I couldn’t stand it. All I could think of was getting up at 5 in the morning and practicing, having my father yelling at me that I wasn’t doing it right.”

His father was a Columbia Law School lawyer. Gross earned his law degree at the University of Michigan. He moved to the young state of Alaska in 1961.

“It was sort of the idea of taking a couple of years off for a lark, and then going back to work in New York, where I always thought I was gonna work,” Gross said. “I decided, well, why not try Alaska? I always liked to fish, the idea was come on up here, work a couple of years and have some fun for a couple of years, and then go back and work at a real job. And I came up here, and after two years, I was hooked.”

While working for the Legislature, Gross met Hammond, then a lawmaker representing Naknek.

Through the legislative process, Gross said Hammond created a position for a special counsel on fisheries matters in the Department of Law. And Gross was hired for the job. A few years later, he went into private practice.

His oldest daughter, Jody Gross, remembers her father in the 1960s in Juneau as, “this Jewish guy from New Jersey.”

Jody said he was sympathetic to the hippie movement, talked civil rights in the family living room with local high school kids and caused an uproar by delivering a politically provocative high school graduation speech.

By 1974, Alaska had elected Jay Hammond governor.

The Republican described the blowback after he picked Gross for attorney general in a 2004 interview for 360 North.

Avrum Gross pictured in the 1979 Alaska Blue Book. Gross served as Alaska’s attorney general from 1974 to 1980. (Photo courtesy Alaska State Library, ASL-Gross-Avrum-2)

“Then a lot of folk cussed me out for appointing Av Gross. And I said, ‘Well, I think it is the obligation to appoint the best legal talent available to fill position of attorney general. And to me, Av Gross is right up there at the top; even his cohorts and colleagues agree.’ ‘Oh well, yeah, he’s a brilliant attorney, but he’s a Democrat!’” Hammond said with a laugh. “You know, long-haired, hippie-type Democrat from New York.”

Hammond stuck with his pick, and Gross said he didn’t have to sacrifice his principles to work with the governor.

“The best advice you can give a governor, for instance as attorney general, is the truth,” Gross said. “If you tell the governor what the law really is, you keep him out of trouble. If you fudge the law because you think you’re going to help the governor or give him some political, you know, advantage on a day-to-day basis or something, in the end, he inevitably gets into incredible trouble. And you’re responsible for it.”

For example, Gross recalled convincing Hammond to veto a bill the Legislature passed to establish the Alaska Permanent Fund.

“Hammond had fought for the permanent fund all his life, he really felt strongly about it,” Gross said. “I called him up and told him that the bill was unconstitutional.”

Creating the permanent fund meant creating a dedicated fund, which can only be done through a constitutional amendment.

“He was so upset,” Gross said. “He said to me, ‘I want to sign this bill. I so much want to sign this bill. Can’t you find some way?’ And I said to him, ‘No, I can’t find some way. It is unconstitutional, you have an obligation as a governor to veto this bill.’ … But, he did. He reluctantly, very reluctantly, vetoed the permanent fund bill.”

That was 1975. Then, Hammond introduced a constitutional amendment that lawmakers and the people did pass the following year to lawfully establish the permanent fund. Gross said Hammond was better for it.

Avrum Gross is interviewed on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., after he defended the state’s permanent fund dividend program in Zobel v. Williams on Oct. 7, 1981. Gross was no longer Alaska’s attorney general, but was representing the state in the case. The court struck down the dividend program 8-1 because it rewarded longer residency with bigger payments, violating the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. (Photo courtesy Marilyn Holmes)

Gross covered a lot of other legal ground in his public career, including:

Gross left the attorney general’s office in 1980 — though he kept working the protracted PFD case until the final decision in 1982 — and returned to private practice in Juneau.

Gross also got back into music after his brother reintroduced him to his violin through fiddle music.

“I dusted it off, and I opened it up and I started to play,” Gross said. “I loved the music. And it was sufficiently different than the classical music that I’d been raised on that I didn’t hear, you know, my father over my shoulder with all the bad vibrations that caused. So I could enjoy my talent and enjoy my training so long as I was playing a different kind of music. … It’s given me an immense amount of joy.”

He played in band called the Grateful Dads, local festivals and the Southeast Alaska State Fair’s fiddle contest.

Gross also bought a historic cannery across Chatham Strait from Angoon.

Jody Gross said he used it as a summer home, family retreat and fishing hole.

“That’s where he wanted to die,” Jody said.

Avrum Gross and his oldest daughter Jody Gross pose for a photo at the family retreat off Chatham Strait. (Photo courtesy Jody Gross)

Her father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about 16 months ago and declined treatment.

“My father’s passion, in the end, even in some of his last words were in response to something I said,” Jody said. “He said, ‘No Jody, the most important thing is to always keep your fishing rod tipped up.’ Because, that’s really how he talked. He was in his element when he was fishing.”

Avrum Gross died May 8, 2018, at the cannery in the company of close family members. Alaska flags flew at half-staff for him last month. No other public memorials are planned.

Avrum Gross is survived by his ex-wife Shari Gross Teeple of Seattle, ex-wife Marilyn Holmes of Juneau, partner Annalee McConnell of Chatham; brother Benedict Gross of San Diego, sister Ruth Picker of Virginia; children Jody Gross of Seattle, Alan Gross of Petersburg, Elizabeth Gross of California and Claire Gross of Juneau; and five grandchildren.

Juneau seeks community help with $1 million endowment for Alaska College of Education

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Students gather outside at the UAS Auke Lake Campus on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (Photo by Heather Bryant/KTOO)

The City and Borough of Juneau is looking to the community for help meeting the remainder of its $1 million commitment to the University of Alaska’s new education college.

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The city pledged to create an endowment when the University of Alaska Board of Regents was considering where to put the new school.

So far, it has contributed $500,000 toward its $1 million pledge. Stock market gains and individual donations mean it’s now worth a little over $600,000. The budget that takes effect July 1 includes another $250,000.

The city hopes to make up the remainder of its pledge — about $150,000 — with community donations.

Assembly member Jesse Kiehl said the goal is to have 150 community donors make personal or business contributions.

“It’s important that the city started that off and started very strongly, and so this is an opportunity to broaden that throughout the community and get lots of people involved,” Kiehl said.

There have already been several $10,000 donations.

The Alaska College of Education, based at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau, is now the administrative center for teacher education in Alaska.

Although degree programs will continue at the Anchorage and Fairbanks campuses, the university hopes the new structure will help it reach its goal to produce 90 percent of Alaska’s teachers by 2025.

The regents approved $1.15 million for the new college at its May 31 meeting.

UAS Chancellor Rick Caulfield said that money will support coordination among UA’s teacher education programs, with UAS in the lead.

“It’s a significant investment by the regents of new funds into UAS and teacher education,” Caulfield said. “That’ll include additional money for marketing and recruitment of students into our undergraduate and graduate programs, our master of arts in teaching program, for example.”

The decision to base the college in Juneau was controversial.

Its creation came out of Strategic Pathways, an initiative aimed at consolidating programs and saving money in the midst of state budgets cuts.

Fairbanks was the original recommendation, but the regents ultimately voted in December 2016 to base the school at UAS.

That resulted in votes of no-confidence in UA President Jim Johnsen’s leadership last year by the faculty senates at UAF and UAA. They said faculty was not consulted prior to the decision.

Kiehl was one of the main cheerleaders in the push to choose UAS.

“It was important that the University of Alaska Southeast take the lead on teacher education because it really was the most successful program, it was the most innovative, it was the most efficient,” Kiehl said.

Kiehl pointed out that the Fairbanks and Anchorage campuses have more master’s degree programs than UAS. He said it’s important for each of UA’s three main universities to have areas of expertise.

“Without that, the potential threats in the budget cutting times to UAS as a standalone university were tremendous,” Kiehl said.

Besides its educational importance, the campus is also one of Juneau’s biggest local employers and an economic driver in the region.

Kiehl said there’s no firm deadline for meeting the fundraising goal, but the sooner the fund is established, the better. He and the other members of the Assembly have all agreed to contribute. The same goes for board members of the Alaska Committee, a capital city booster organization.

The Juneau Community Foundation is handling donations. The city will send out letters to potential donors in the coming weeks.

Caulfield said the university looks forward to putting the CBJ Teacher Excellence Fund to work building future generations of Alaskan educators.

“I envision that those funds will be used for scholarships and to support programs, not only here in Southeast Alaska, but all over the state,” Caulfield said.

Summer programs at the Alaska College of Education are already underway.

Steve Atwater, the new Executive Dean of the college, starts July 1.

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